What Hurts Is Trying To Avoid A Primary

July 24, 1994

Albert Calandro Jr., a West Haven delegate pledged to John G. Rowland, had a pointed message for the opposition when he announced his vote Saturday afternoon at the Republican State Convention: ``Kezer delegates,'' he said, ``you're hurting the party.''

That sentiment was sounded repeatedly before, during and after the roll call for governor at the Bushnell Memorial in Hartford, where Republicans gathered to endorse a ticket for the November elections. Mr. Rowland was the convention's choice by a wide margin.

A score or so of Pauline R. Kezer's delegates even deserted her after the roll call, claiming party unity as a virtue more to be prized than personal loyalty. It was clear that a big majority of the Republicans hate primary runoffs as much as do many Democrats. It's a curious affliction.

But both parties will have primaries in September -- to the benefit of rank-and-file voters, who now can take part in choosing their party's nominees. Mr. Rowland's forces, though dominant at the convention, could not strip Mrs. Kezer of enough delegate votes to deny her the 15 percent threshold. Short of money, she nonetheless will wage a primary campaign against the endorsed candidate.

The runoff can't possibly hurt the GOP cause any more than the convention did. The pressure applied to Kezer delegates produced the kind of hard feelings that party-unity advocates say they want to avoid. Connecticut partisans don't seem to realize that a major cause of disunity is all the energy that goes into trying to stop a primary.

A primary, moreover, will allow Republicans to compete for attention with the Democrats' headline summer race between John B. Larson and William E. Curry Jr. But voters in both parties are the big winners.

Oddly, Mr. Rowland, whose troops tried so hard to keep Mrs. Kezer from qualifying, believes the convention system is antiquated and favors a direct primary. So does Mrs. Kezer, who has plugged for change as secretary of the state. Let them continue to advocate a more open nominating system, regardless of this primary's outcome.